Reiser

While Linux 4.9 will be released in just a few weeks, the remaining Reiser4 file-system developers have just updated their code to support the Linux 4.8 stable kernel.

Reiser4 for Linux 4.8.0 is now available for those wanting to run this out-of-tree file-system on the current stable kernel. The Reiser4 kernel is now compatible with 4.8 and there is also a kernel oops fix when mounting forward-incompatible volumes, unneeded assertions were removed, some VFS changes were made, and there is now rename2 support.

Edward Shishkin, one of the last remaining Reiser4 developers and the one who has been leading this out-of-tree file-system the past few years, has implemented logical volumes support with support for mirrors (in effect, RAID 0) and failover support at the file-system level.

Shishkin quietly announced on Sunday, "Reiser4 will support logical (compound) volumes. For now we have implemented the simplest ones - mirrors. As a supplement to existing checksums it will provide a failover - an important feature, which will reduce number of cases when your volume needs to be repaired by fsck."

The Reiser4 file-system now has support for the latest stable Linux kernel series, Linux 4.7.

Released this morning by Edward Shishkin was the updated Reiser4 file-system driver patch that provides compatibility for Linux 4.7.0. The only other change besides porting over to Linux 4.7 is a small returned optimization.

There's been no talk in a few years about attempting to mainline the Reiser4 file-system in the Linux kernel. Thus for now if you want to try out this once-promising file-system, swing by SourceForge to patch your kernel.

While Romanowsky gamely tries to negotiate the same structural tricks as the book, which employed the Reiser case as a base camp from which the author could depart and return, in the film it feels more like a subplot despite the cinematic tricks -- the cross-cutting and slo-mo flashbacks -- that the director uses to try to connect the stories. At times it feels flat, other times risible, and only occasionally do the stories resonate in any kind of harmony.

Note that this a personal view, not a recommendation. My own choice depends on how I use computers and my practices for backup, recovery, etc. Your practices are likely different. Much of this post will be about my considerations in deciding against “btrfs” for my own use.

The Reiser4 file-system has been updated with support for the Linux 4.5 kernel.

Edward Shishkin, the main Reiser4 developer left working on this out-of-tree file-system, today spun the Reiser4 patches for the Linux 4.5 kernel that also includes a few fixes/changes for satisfying the kernel and compiler. Aside from that, there's nothing new to report today with regard to new Reiser4 file-system features nor any new attempt to try to mainline this file-system code.

While Reiser4 doesn't still have any mainline Linux kernel ambitions until receiving any corporate backing, the notoriously known Linux file-system has been updated for Linux 3.16 compatibility and SSD discard support.

Over the weekend the Reiser4 file-system patches were updated for Linux 3.16.1/3.16.2 kernel support and additionally for presenting SSD discard support for the long-in-development Linux FS. This latest Reiser4 file-system work was done by Ivan Shapovalov and Edward Shishkin.

A recent announcement was made stating that the Reiser4 file system, successor to the ReiserFS, was ported to the 3.15 Linux kernel. Following the 2006 conviction and incarceration of the mastermind that original conceived this project (Hans Reiser), a few dedicated developers continued supporting this file system despite the odds stacked against them. In the last decade, the Linux kernel has seen newer file systems, most of which are integrated into the mainline kernel tree (i.e. btrfs, ext4, etc.). Reiser4 was rejected for inclusion some time back, and most of its developers moved on (one or more of which are currently working on btrfs).

While the Linux 3.16 kernel is now stable, a few days ago the Reiser4 file-system was finally ported to Linux 3.15.

Edward Shishkin released Reiser4 for the Linux 3.15.1 kernel last weekend. Besides being ported to the kernel interface changes for Linux 3.15, there's also two bug-fixes for the out-of-tree file-system. Most of the Reiser4 activity these days continues to just be porting to new kernel versions and bug-fixing. Edward is down to being one of the only main developers left and there's expected to be no effort to mainline the controversial file-system without the support of a major Linux ISV/IHV.

Ivan Shapovalov is back on track with his Reiser4 file-system contributions.

Shapovalov has been working on Reiser4 support for TRIM/Discard on SSDs. It's been some weeks since the last revision but the fourth version of the patches are now out there for this common file-system feature of being able to discard blocks by informing the solid-state drive about blocks that are no longer in use by the file-system. Most mainline Linux file-systems already support SSD discard, which is generally exposed via the discard mount option -- which is also the case for Reiser4.

Reiser4 now has support for different transaction models. Reiser4 can now change between transaction models with regard to a journalling mode, a write-anywhere / copy-on-write model, and a hybrid transaction model.

A few moments ago, renowned Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman had the pleasure of announcing the general availability of the Linux kernel 4.8.13 and Linux kernel 4.4.37 LTS maintenance updates.
While many rolling GNU/Linux distributions have just received the Linux 4.8.12 kernel, it looks like Linux kernel 4.8.13 is now available with more improvements and bug fixes, but it's not a major milestone. According to the appended shortlog and the diff since last week's Linux 4.8.12 kernel release, a total of 46 files were changed, with 214 insertions and 95 deletions.

openSUSE's Douglas DeMaio reports on the latest Open Source and GNU/Linux technologies that landed in the repositories of the openSUSE Tumbleweed rolling operating system.

What Is A VPN Connection? Why To Use VPN?

We all have heard about VPN sometime. Most of us normal users of internet use it. To bypass the region based restrictions of services like Netflix or Youtube ( Yes, youtube has geo- restrictions too). In fact, VPN is actually mostly used for this purpose only. ​

The Libreboot C201 from Minifree is really really really ridiculously open source

Open source laptops – ones not running any commercial software whatsoever – have been the holy grail for free software fans for years. Now, with the introduction of libreboot, a truly open source boot firmware, the dream is close to fruition.
The $730 laptop is a bog standard piece of hardware but it contains only open source software. The OS, Debian, is completely open source and to avoid closed software the company has added an Atheros Wi-Fi dongle with open source drivers rather than use the built-in Wi-Fi chip.